March Food Drive ends with celebrity-filled finale at KARE 11 studios
The Salvation Army’s Annual Food Drive in March ended with a grand finale at KARE 11 News studios in Golden Valley, where community members gave thousands of dollars and dropped off nearly 2,500 pounds of nonperishable food donations in their final push to help hungry Minnesota families. (See photos.)
The March 26 event featured appearances by two Minnesota sports legends: NFL Hall of Famer Cris Carter (pictured above) and four-time WNBA champion Lindsay Whalen (pictured right), both of whom helped collect donations and interacted with donors.
“There are people out there who really need help,” said Carter, whose family received food, clothing and other support from The Salvation Army when he was a child. “We’re going to make a dent in hunger.”
A large dent: KARE 11 viewers alone gave more than $86,000 during the monthlong food drive as part the news station’s “Food Fight” fundraiser, which featured three of the station’s anchor teams – Team Bel, Team Julie, and Team Reggie – battling to see which group could raise the most money to fight hunger.
Team Julie won the contest by raising more than $32,429, followed by Team Bel ($28,958) and Team Reggie ($25,028).
Among the Food Fight donors was a local resident named Jim (pictured right), who stopped by the event to give cash after hearing about the food drive on KARE 11.
“There’s a lot of food insecurity right now and things are tougher for families,” he said. “I can afford to give something, so I’m happy to contribute.”
Many local businesses supported the Annual Food Drive as well, including Blaze Credit Union, Slumberland Furniture and Warners’ Stellian, all of which served as food drop-off locations in March.
Overall, the food drive raised enough cash and nonperishables equal to nearly 1 million meals.
“Families are struggling – they need this food,” said Captain Josh Polanco, General Secretary for The Salvation Army Northern Division. “We couldn’t do what we do on a day-to-day basis without the support of our community. We thank all of partners, donors and volunteers for their help in keeping The Salvation Army’s food pantries stocked in 2025.”
The Salvation Army operates 25 food pantries in Minnesota that – when combined with our local hot meal programs – provide an average of 8,100 daily meals for people and families in need.
Stocking these food programs is critically important because 1 in 5 Minnesota families now rely on food shelves to make ends meet. Additionally, a new study revealed that Minnesotans made nearly 9 million visits to food shelves in 2024 – shattering the all-time record of 7.5 million visits set in 2023.
As of today, the Annual Food Drive is about $40,000 short of its goal to raise 1 million meals. Please help The Salvation Army reach this goal by giving a donation.